Vuelta win moves Valverde to second in world ranking

Alejandro Valverde's win in the Vuelta a España moved the Spaniard into second place on the International Cycling Union's (UCI) Individual World Rankings, released on Monday.

The Caisse d'Epargne rider had previously been in sixth position prior to his victory in the Spanish Grand Tour.

Valverde's ascension in the UCI Individual World Rankings was also duplicated by the other nine riders who finished in the top 10 at the Vuelta a España. Vuelta runner-up Samuel Sánchez (Euskatlet-Euskadi) leapt from 35th to eighth position while third place finisher Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) moved from ninth to fourth position.

Vuelta fourth place finisher Ivan Basso rose 20 positions in the UCI ranking, jumping from 32nd to 12th. Spain's Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia), fifth overall in the Vuelta, made his first appearance of the year in the rankings at 51st due to his Vuelta performance.

The rider who made the largest leap on the UCI rankings was Philip Deignan (Cervelo TestTeam), a stage winner and ninth overall finisher in the Vuelta a España. The Irishman soared 172 positions on the individual ranking, jumping from 243rd to 71st.

Vuelta points jersey winner and multi-stage winner André Greipel (Team Columbia-HTC) also made a significant jump from 120th position to 52nd as did Slovenian sprinter and Vuelta stage winner Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil), rising to 99th from 173rd.

Alberto Contador (Astana) continues to lead the rankings while Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank), previously in second, dropped one position to third.

The team rankings underwent a minor re-shuffling of the top 10, most notably Caisse d'Epargne's rise from sixth to second. Silence-Lotto and Rabobank each moved up one position respectively. Spain's Xacobeo Galicia made its first appearance of the year in the team rankings at 21st position. Astana remains the top ranked team.

Spain remains atop the nations ranking and there were no changes in the top 10. The Netherlands moved up to 11th position from 12th, switching positions with France. Slovenia moved from 20th to 18th position.

Below is the complete list of the latest UCI World individual, team and nation rankings.